GM's Stock Offering Plans Draw Scrutiny

General Motors Co. delayed until next week Friday's planned filing of paperwork for an initial public stock offering, amid scrutiny of the company's new top boss, The Detroit News reported.

Potential investors are focusing on Daniel Akerson, a GM board member with a financial and telecommunications background, who will replace Chairman and CEO Ed Whitacre Jr. His surprise appointment came Thursday.

Akerson's immediate and huge task will be to line up investors to buy GM stock and convince them he has the skills to run the automaker effectively, even though he is an industry outsider.

IHS Automotive analyst Rebecca Lindland said GM likely needed to delay the filing of federal paperwork for its initial public offering (IPO) of stock to update the document's outline of GM management.

It "highlights the fact that this (leadership) change is fairly sudden," she said.

"Eventually, everybody will probably feel good about this change. I don't know if that has sunk in yet."

Akerson has his work cut for him to sell the management change to investors, Lindland said, but his rise hasn't dramatically altered the picture.

"People who weren't going to buy into the IPO still aren't going to and people that are confident enough to buy probably haven't changed their minds," she said.

Whitacre made no secret of the fact that he didn't plan to stay at GM for a long time, but Thursday's announcement that he would step down Sept. 1 was unexpected. Akerson, 61, a managing partner at private equity firm Carlyle Group, had not been mentioned as a candidate to succeed Whitacre, 68.

Analysts said the management change, announced at the end of Thursday's upbeat second-quarter earnings presentation, seemed designed to reassure potential investors.

Akerson's strong financial experience will lend him credibility as he prepares to take the lead role in selling GM to potential investors in a "road show" this fall.

At Carlyle, Akerson helped oversee a portfolio of 900 real estate and corporate investments, including such diverse companies as Hertz, Dunkin Donuts, AMC Entertainment, Hawaiian Telecom and Harrah's Entertainment. He has taken an active role as a member of GM's board since his appointment by the Treasury Department in 2009.